Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Nutrition 101

OK, I'm finally learning something in my nutrition class. And since my goal is to lose 10 lbs, I'm going to spend the next few days looking very closely at my usual diet, and how to cut 500kcal (what we commonly refer to as calories) a day, which is what one has to do to lose 1 lb/week... so the idea is, adding exercise, can lose more than 1 lb/week..

I think the most important thing to do here is start measuring my portion sizes. Americans eat riDONKulous portion sizes. I figured out my BMI (loosely, 22.9, which is still in the healthy range of 18.5-24.9), and based on that, calculated that on a sedentary day, I should take in only about 1200+kcal. (When I work out, it's only about 1600.) That's not a lot. I also calculated that I can have between 20-70g fat (no more than 20g saturated), 46g protein, 200-300g carbohydrates, and 25g fiber.

For breakfast, I actually measured my cereal, milk, and blackberries - for a grand total of 300kcal, 7.5g fat (.5g saturated). For lunch I made my favorite salad, which I make all the time, all the time, and measured everything and looked everything up, and it turns out? My favorite healthy salad has over 500kcal and 38g fat!!!!!!!!!! Whoa. WHOA.

This is exactly the kind of stuff I need to know in order to accomplish my goals. If anyone would like me to work up their specs for them, please let me know; I need the practice. I'll just be over here making vitamin flashcards for my final next week. :)

class/book/research/etc. I would be happy to calculate yours, too, if you'd like. You and Krys can both e-mail me your height, weight, age, and activity level (a normal day of everyday activities such as light house work, errands, etc is about a 1.1-1.2. Sedentary is 1.0 but that is literally lying on the couch all day. If you go to the gym every single day I can give you a 2.0.)

I enjoy doing it.

Oh, and the salad? Romaine, cucumbers, scallions, marinated artichoke hearts, prepared sun-dried tomato pesto, kalamata olives, feta cheese, tabouleh, pistachios, lemon juice, and black pepper. I could leave out the nuts and save 200 calories and 18g fat. *sigh* It's still a good, healthy meal though - it has 18g of protein and 9g of fiber. Maybe not if I'm trying to lose weight, but healthy anyway.

Seriously, I love this stuff. Let me know if you ever have any questions on nutrition or health - it's fascinating to me and I really do enjoy it.